<p>I was wondering whether moving up in management as a computer hardware engineer will make more money than an IT consultant at a non super firm (ie excluding mckinsey, bain, BCG, etc. or whatever is the equivalent to them in consulting)? Both jobs appeal to me, so which one has a better combination of hours and pay (I'd like to make at the VERY VERY least 6 figs after around 3 years of getting an MBA, but would like to ideally make 120k+ without having to be forty something to do so (early thirties is what I'm aiming for)). As far as hours is concerned, I could deal with working at most 7 or 8 to 6, but wouldn't like to work much more than that unless its on occasion. </p>
<p>working in IT can yield alot more than $120K a year, when I interned at Merrill, guys there were making close to 350K a year without any degrees.</p>
<p>yeah but on payscale I saw that the average is like 89k, which doesn't seem like much compared to what people claim management consultants make. But also, aren't the hours terrible for IT consulting as well? Remember, I wanted the best combination of hours and pay, and I hear consultants work A TON. I know managers don't exactly work 9-5, but certainly I'm sure its less than a consultant.</p>
<p>Also, how hard is it to get a job in consulting where you can make 150k? You could just be an exception for all I know right? And what happens when you aren't with a client? Does your firm still pay you, or what exactly happens?</p>
<p>let me clarify, the guys making that much were exceptions. I mean it was just 2 of them but they were the guys everybody went to when we were to stupid. I don't expect to ever make that much, and that day and age when folks make that much is pretty much gone, but those guys have been with the company for 40+ years.</p>
<p>I outlined in another thread my plan not to become a consultant, id rather just work for one company, being in charge of that organizations IT needs. To me consulting is to stressful. Id like to work for a finance firm or maybe even a hospital where they pay me a good paycheck and I enjoy what I do.</p>
<p>The Hospital idea is on the rise for me, as I really like Hospitals.</p>
<p>To be sure, there are indeed some extremely highly paid IT consultants out there. So i586's story is not false. What you usually need to get that kind of pay in IT is extremely specific technical skills and deep knowledge of a particular industry - i.e. building high-end Oracle data warehouses for banks. But of course the vast majority of IT consultants will never make that kind of money, because they never get the chance to learn a highly-demanded skill and/or never get the opportunity to obtain deep industry knowledge.</p>